What is "Japanese Association for Ukrainian Studies"?

Japanese Association for Ukrainian Studies (JAUS) (Japons'ka Asotsiatsija Ukrajinistiv) is an institution aimed for development of Ukrainian studies in Japan and fellowship with each other. It's open to anybody who is interested in Ukraine. In June 1994, a preparatory assembly had held at University of Tokyo, and so far, conferences were held six times. 1st conference was in November 1996, and the most recent conference was in May 1997.

JAUS is a Japanese branch of MAU (Mizhnarodna Asotsiatsija Ukrajinistiv. In English, International Association of Ukrainian Studies). MAU was established at the international conference in memory of Christianization of Rus' in Milan (1988). Mr. Pritsak (Prof. Harvard Univ.) and Mr. Pikkio (Prof. Yale Univ.) took the initiative in founding it. The 1st conference was held in Kyyiv (1990), 2nd in L'viv (1993), and 3rd in Kharkiv (August 1996).

JAUS's first aim was to participate in the 3rd conference in Kharkiv as the organization. And we did that. First Mr. Kazuo Nakai (Univ. of Tokyo) did a keynote speech "Ukraine and the expansion of NATO" at a opening ceremony, then at branches, Mr. Ryunosuke Kuroda (Tokyo Institute of Technology) read a paper, "Pro doslidzhennia ukrainskoi movy v Iaponii", Mr. Takao Hino (Tenri Univ.)-"Kharbinskyi slovnyk", Ms Etsuko Fujii (Aoyama Gakuin Womens junior college)-"A translation of Shevchenko into Japanese", Ms Megumi Suezawa (The Japan Institute of International Affairs)-"The relationship between Japan and Ukraine after the independence of Ukraine". All of them read in Ukraine. The 4th conference will be held in Odesa in 1999. A lot of the reporters and observers from JAUS will take part in this year's conference.